


Dumbass

by kyballs



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Eventual EreRi, Football | Soccer, Homophobic Language, Homophobic characters, Marco Bott & Jean Kirstein Friendship, Multi, armin/eren friendship, light ereri though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2015-01-26
Packaged: 2018-02-20 08:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2422715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyballs/pseuds/kyballs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean Kirschstien is a popular senior and the soccer captain at Trost high school, who dreams of going pro, but his grades suck, the school asks Armin Arlert, the smartest and most picked on kid in the senior class, to tutor him. But of course, Armin develops a crush on Jean, and Jean being Jean is oblivious.</p><p>I have this posted on Fanfiction as Of tutors and soccer players, but I feel like I  like this title a lot better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

"Jean, Mr. Dot would like to see you in his office." Mr. Smith called with an annoyed look on his face

Jean broke out in a nervous sweat, he couldn't get in trouble. "Uh, okay. Should I bring my bags?"

"I don't know, go ahead." The physics teacher seemed to get annoyed every second Jean didn't exit the classroom. Not that he Jean would suffer greatly from missing a class period, but because the longer he waited the longer it would take him to know if Jean was in trouble. Jean was the captain of the soccer team since his sophomore year, his team needs him to win the soccer game that sent them into state playoffs, and Mr. Smith, Coach Erwin, did not want to picture the game without the star player.

"Uh, I guess I'll just bring it, see you later Coach." He said leaving quickly, if Erwin's looks could kill, he would have been dead if he stayed 2 seconds longer.

Jean racked his brain trying to figure out what the hell he could've done. He was staying out of trouble for this soccer game. Not that he was usually in trouble, the only time he ever had issues was when that new kid from St. Maria's Private school, Yeager called him 'horse face' or 'Sarah Jessica Parker'. But he had ignored Eren's attempts at him since the team was close to qualifying for playoffs.

 _I haven't hit or kicked anyone, I've toned myself down a little in dodge ball, my attendance is perfect, and I don't have social media, what coul- shit!_   _I'm almost failing 2 classes._

He had been so focused on soccer and practicing he had not been studying for History or English. He hated that shit, he actually had to study. He had taken honors Calculus junior year because he had skipped basic math in 7th grade and went straight to Algebra, and he currently has AP Physics, Physics is basically different variations of a root problem so he never had trouble with, but if he had to apply himself heavily in class he would really have to heavily apply himself.

Jean's inner monologue began with calling himself an idiot, then to a small panic attack about not being able to play.

Jean put everything into soccer and it was the primary focus of his life. Soccer came first for him, if you knew the name Jean Kirschstein; you knew soccer came before everything. He didn't have an expecting parent who pushed him for this, no, he genuinely loved the game. He was on a similar path to one of his heroes, the Welsh Footballer Gareth Bale, he had been asked to attend a soccer school but his mother just didn't have the money.

Jean wanted to be a professional. He wanted to play in the American Soccer League, The Premier League, La Liga, Ligue 1, or Bundesliga. Of course he would prefer an English or German Speaking association football league so he didn't have to learn another language, but if Barcelona or Real wanted him, he would definitely go to La Liga. He wanted to play in the World Cup; he had 2 choices for teams to be on too.

Jean has dual-citizenship in both America and Germany. His mother is an American and his father was German. If you had asked little 3 year old Jean what he wanted to be when he grew up the same answer was given in a strange accent, 'A professional fussball player'. Of course people would mistake it for American football, but little Jean's was bilingual.

Leading his high school soccer team to winning the Championships junior year with his Co-Captain, then senior Levi Ackerman, had put both college and professional scouts eye's on him. If he did it again solo in senior year, he couldn't even imagine the response.

He could not believe he was dumb enough to let his stupid grades in the way of his future.

He walked into the main office and sat down next to a kid with blonde hair who looked even more nervous than Jean himself.

_He either tried to set the school on fire or isn't used to being in trouble._

Jean side glance to the boy and recalled his name. Armin Arlert, the genius junior-who-skipped-a-grade-and-is-now-a-senior who he had Calc with the previous year. He was childhood friends with that shithead Yeager and his sister Mikasa. Jean had hit on her once, very stubbly and that's when they started their rivalry.

_Yeah, he isn't used to being here._

"Mr. Kirschstein, Principal Dot is ready for you now." Gunther Schultz called. Gunther was 2 years older than Jean and was one of the Football Captains who went to the community college and had an internship at the school. He had gotten a partial scholarship to some prestigious college but forgot to sign his paper work and lost it.

"Hey, calm down you probably didn't do anything wrong." Jean whispered to the small blonde sitting next to him before he got up. He slung his bag on his shoulder and stood up. "Thanks Schultz, tell your girl I said hi."

"Sure thing Jean, get yourself out of whatever trouble you're in okay? The team needs you." Gunther said sitting back down.

Jean walked into the principal's office, nervous as he's ever been.

"Mr. Kirschstein! Good to see you!" the principal shouted, "You know more than anyone that I love soccer."

Oh boy did he, the man had nearly broken a hip jumping around in his ridiculously outdated and short soccer shorts when they had won the championships last year. "Yes I do sir."

"Oh stop with the formality son! It's Pixis to the stars of this school!" The principal shouted again

"Well then, um, Principal Pixis-"

"Just Pixis my boy." The old man interrupted.

"Right. Um, with all due respect, could you get to the point? I was pulled out of Coach's class and he was pretty piss- um, mad at the thought of me being in enough trouble to miss tomorrow's game."

"Alright boy, the thing is,"

_Oh god, I'm not going to be able to play, this will be the first game I've ever missed. They might lose, they probably won't but if they do? My entire career could be over before it even starts._

Jean pictured being hit in the face with a soccer ball that had 'History and English' written on the side of it and getting a concussion.

"You know Trost's grading standards for being on a team right, my boy?"

 _Oh shit, here it comes._  "Yes I do." Jean cleared his throat.  _My dream of being the next Gareth Bale or Neymar Jr. is over, I'm done._

"Recite it for me."

"However, in order to participate in a sport, the player must not be failing a subject or have lower than a C average in 2 classes."

"You have a D in Honors U.S. History and a C- in Honors English IV, not to mention the teetering C you have in Art I."

"Are you kicking me off the team?" Jean felt like he was going to piss himself, his whole future was on the line because of his stupid classes.

"No," Jean felt the weight of 5 universes lift from his shoulders, "But!" 2 of them fell back on.

"If it were anyone else you would be off no questions asked. Since you are the only captain, the team is riding on you."

"Please never say that again." Jean muttered.

"But rules are rules, so you will have to be tutored after school." That Armin kid being outside finally made sense to him now. Pixis pressed a button on the phone on his desk and told Gunther to let Armin in the room.

He walked in minutes later and sat down next to Jean looking rather sick.

"It's fine you aren't in trouble." Jean said putting a hand on Armin's shoulder. The kid calmed down a bit.

"Armin Arlert! Smartest kid in school! How are you?" Pixis shouted yet again.

"Um, I, um," he still looked nervous.

"Pixis, I'm not trying to disrespect you but the longer coach waits, the more students have to suffer." Jean said saving Armin from having to answer the flamboyant principal.

"Right, sorry son, Armin, Jean here is failing to many classes to continue playing soccer-"

"I'm not failing any classes actually."

"Right, sorry son, his grades are not good enough to continue playing soccer."

"That didn't make it sound any better." Jean said under his breath sinking into his chair slightly, earning a giggle from Armin who had calmed down a considerable amount.

"Since Jean is the only captain, the whole team is riding him to victory," Jean groaned.

"Please, I mean it, don't say that again. Ever." Jean said while Armin tried not to laugh.

"I don't see what wrong with saying that they are riding y-"

"Don't. Do not say it again. Please." Armin almost lost it.

_How does this man not understand he's making an innuendo?_

"Fine, Armin? Would you tutor Jean? He needs help in U.S. History and English IV. You have the highest marks in every class, except Physics, which Jean somehow does."

"Yes I will, when do we start?" Jean sighed he was saved; his figurative English and History soccer ball of death had missed his head.

"Today immediately after school, since this is solely circumstantial, we must take immediate action."

"Pixis, I have to object. I have to be at practice before it starts, at least to tell the guys what drills to do."

"Armin would you mind waiting?"

"He doesn't have to wait, he can just come with me."

"Alright, it's settled. Now go tell Erwin before he accidentally maims a student." Pixis stated opening the door for the 2 boys.

Pixis shut the door and both Jean and Armin took a deep breath before Jean grabbed Armin by the shoulders and hugged him.

"Thank you so much, you are like tiny, genius, blonde god right now." Jean said hugging the smaller boy. Then he took into consideration how weird Armin must have been feeling right now so he relinquished his hold on the blonde. "Sorry, but seriously thanks."

"N-no problem." Armin said with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Meet me after school in here, seriously thank you. I gotta go tell Coach now before he gets to angry. Bye! And like I said, meet me here." Jean said in a rush, leaving the office and speed walking back to class, leaving a blushing Armin in the office.

"He's got a lot of energy, that's why he plays sports. You'll get used to it, don't worry." Gunther told Armin.

* * *

Jean walked back into the classroom and was greeted with the anxious stares of the small Physics class.

"So dumbass what happened?" Erwin whispered to Jean.

"I'm allowed to play." As he finished his sentence the vein in Erwin's forehead decreased in size. "But I'm going to have to miss practice for a while, I'll stop by and tell the boys what to do before practice starts, I'll practice when I'm done."

Erwin's forehead vein popped slightly again. "Alright, I'll leave the turf open and the equipment out for you. But you have to put it back and lock up, alright dumbass?" Erwin said pulling his keys out and giving them to Jean.

"Yes coach." He said before returning to his desk and finishing the 4 problems he had left on his paper.

* * *

"What happened Armin?" Eren asked his friend who had just come back from the office.

"Nothing bad, I just need to tutor someone." Armin began to blush recalling Jean hugging him.

"Oi, are you blushing? Who is it that got you all hot and bothered?" Eren asked

"Eren! Don't say something like that!" Armin reprimanded his friend

"Yeah, I'm sorry. So who's the lucky guy?" Armin was in the closet to everyone except for his grandpa, Eren, and Mikasa. That didn't mean kids didn't call him a faggot because of his looks and harass him. He liked Jean for that, he was one of the only popular kids that didn't tease him. It was mainly the football team that were jerks to him. Eren was openly gay but no one said anything because Eren would punch them until a tooth fell out, Armin would not.

"Jean." Armin said quietly.

"Horse face?! Sarah?!" Eren exclaimed silently. "You're kidding me? You have a crush on Sarah Jessica Parker?"

"No I don't as a matter of fact. He just hugged me and it makes me blush. There's nothing wrong with Jean by the way, he's very nice. He's never picked on me." Armin said back to Eren.

* * *

The bell signaling for 8th period's end rang and both boys headed for the main office.

"Hey Armin."

"Hi Jean."

"Well off to the locker room, it'll only take me about 5 minutes." Jean smiled as he opened the door for Armin.

"Okay, thanks."

"I should be the one thanking you, if you said no my dream to be a pro footb- uh sorry, soccer player would be dead."

"Actually, if I said no they probably would have made someone else do it, you're too valuable to the team."

"Wow. Thanks Armin, that means a lot." Jean said feeling good about himself, so he ruffled Armin's hair. If Armin had anything to learn aside from Jean being a soccer prodigy (which anyone who watched him play could tell), it was that he was a very touchy person.

"I'll be right out." Jean said to him disappearing behind the locker room door.

"What do we have here?" Armin heard a boy say.

"A little gay boy, probably trying to figure out how he should peep on us."

"Please stop, I'm not doing anything." Armin pleaded.

"Not yet you weren't. I think we should teach Fag Boy here a lesson." The boy said pounding his fist into his hand.

 


	2. Holden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin tutors Jean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the rest of the story is in Armin's POV

I was scared; I don't even know this kid, any of these kids actually. The bullying had not been as bad this year as it was sophomore and junior year, mainly because Eren and Mikasa transferred from St. Maria's Private school-well Eren was kicked out from starting too many fights- to Trost for their senior year after their father lost his job so normally they were there with me whenever there was a chance of me getting bullied. I've known them since we were kids so they protected me like I was their own brother and I'm really grateful for that. I know Jean is just in the locker room but i don't know how long it would take him to tell the team what they needed to do at practice.

"I think a nice hard hit in the face should be enough to teach him not to look in the locker room to get his kicks." The boy with brown hair said walking closer.

"I-I wasn't, I," I couldn't talk. I had gotten so used to this not happening that it was worse than I remembered.

"Shut up faggot!" The brown haired guy yelled and his friends laughed, all coming closer. One of them kicked me in the shin while the boy wound his arm up to punch me in the face and I shut my eyes and braced myself for the hit.

"Hey, fuck off of him you fucking assholes," I heard Jean say pushing the brown haired guy away from me and then picked up my bag from the ground. "He's not doing anything he's just waiting for me. Go bother your teammates now. Jesus." He said handing me my bag. The group of boys walked into the locker room embarrassed, Jean was probably the most popular kid in school whether he knew it or not, and if he didn't like you, then most people didn't.

"Sorry Jean." I said hanging my head, I felt bad for him that he had to do that for me.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, they're just a bunch of dicks." Jean clenched a fist at his side and held his backpack strap with the other. "I swear, if I wasn't trying to stay out of trouble I would have beat the shit out of all of them."

"You didn't have to do that though." I said when we started walking to the library, really it wasn't his problem.

"You're kidding right? Of course I did, no one deserves to have those things said to them, true or not. I just wish you would've stuck up for yourself." He said

"…Sorry."

"Like I said, you don't have to be sorry." He said opening the library door for me, I repeated 'Sorry' under my breath.

This conversation could continue again never, I had to tutor him now.

We sat down at a table next to the non-fiction books and Jean got his textbooks and homework out. I know he won't give me a hard time because he wanted to get in the clear so he could play soccer without worrying. Everyone in the school knew who Jean was and everyone knew the basics, even the new girl Krista knew the basics.

Number 1, Jean Erik Kirschstein was his full name; number 2, his favorite color was periwinkle; number 3, he spoke fluent German (he normally spoke it when he was angry to avoid getting in trouble in class); number 4, he was a soccer prodigy/god (Trost was a large school and he started Varsity freshman year); number 5, he was intent on being a pro soccer player.

"Your lowest grade is in History so do you want to start there? Or do you want to clear your English grade first?" I asked him, Jean looked pretty irritated just thinking about it.

"Can we focus on my English grade?"

"Okay, what are you guys doing?"

"Catcher in the Rye." I laughed a little, Jean reminded me of Holden from the first chapter, getting kicked out of school for bad grades. "I don't understand this question." Jean stated pointing at a question.

"'What is the significance of the carousel in Chapter 25?'"

"Yeah, it's just a carousel. I don't get it." He said looking frustrated out of his mind already. "Ugh, I'm such an idiot."

"Jean don't say that, English isn't everyone's thing." I encouraged him. "Think of it this way, Holden states that Phoebe protested riding the carousel saying that she is too big but he buys her a ticket anyway because he knows that she really does want to ride it. However he himself doesn't ride it, showing he recognizes that he's an adult, even though he may not particularly accept it."

I looked back at him to see if he understood but he was just staring at me in awe. I held my breath and felt the heat on my cheeks and the tips of my ears.

"Uh, J-Jean?" I stuttered feeling kind of embarrassed, why was he looking at me like that?

"Um, sorry, it's just why a teacher can't give me an answer like that when I ask for help, I don't know. Thanks Armin." He laughed taking his paper back and writing the answer down and continuing to do a couple more, skipping around the packet.

"Why is Holden an unreliable narrator?" he asked me after finishing most of the packet, save for the vocab section.

"He with holds a lot of information, right?" I asked and Jean nodded in agreement "So, in order to really understand his character you had to look at his actions towards other people."

"Like when he talks about how Maurice beat and robbed him. He says that he thought he was dying and imagines being a movie hero and seeking revenge, but he really never describes how he feels."

"Right, good job." I was really impressed by how quickly he caught on to what I said. Honestly he must not have a good teacher because he seems to be doing just fine with me.

"That's because my tutor is better than my teacher." He replied smirking and writing his answer down. He then reached up and ruffled my hair. I felt another blush coming up to my cheeks so I looked away from him. I'm not used to touchy people because Eren and Mikasa aren't big on physical contact and my grandpa was my grandpa so it didn't make me feel weird at all. I barely knew Jean, that's the only reason I'm acting so weird about it.

"Armin what does 'give her the time' mean?" he asked me, looking up from the paper.

"I-It means to um, h-have s-sex with her, wh-whoever her is." I said as my blush got deeper. Jean began to chuckle. "You knew what that meant didn't you!" I yelled as quietly as I could and Jean broke out in actual laughter.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he laughed while recovering from his breakdown, "I saw that you were already blushing so I just decided to be an ass and add to it. Sorry, you're just cute when you're flustered." He nonchalantly stated. Once again I looked like a tomato, I can't believe he just called me cute! I doubt he even realized he said it too. He didn't look remotely embarrassed.

"S-so, history?" I asked

"Ugh, I hate history. But okay, we're talking about the U.S. involvement in WWII." Jean said, the irritatation taking place on his face again. "I have a quiz tomorrow, shit."

"Do you have a review?"

"Yeah, hold on I'll get it out."

"Look over it and then I'll quiz you."

He took about 5 minutes and gave the sheet to me. "This should be fine it's a really short quiz."

"Yeah, that makes it easier to fail." Jean sighed

"Alright. Before the U.S. entered the war they gave tanks and guns to Britain so they could fight the Germans. What was this act called?"

"Uh, I don't know."

"Just guess."

"The Manhattan Project?"

"No, it's the Lend Lease act." Jean once again had an angered expression on his face.

"Next question, what triggered the U.S. to enter the war?"

"The attack on Pearl Harbor, easy." Jean said regaining confidence as I nodded.

"Where did the U.S. drop the atomic bombs?"

"Japan."

"Yes, but what cities?"

"Uh, Hirosaki and Nagashima?"

"It's Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What did they call the plan to drop the bombs?"

"Okay, this is The Manhattan Project." I nodded.

We finished the review and he only had a couple questions we had to go over.

"Gee, thanks for the help Armin, really." He thanked me

"No problem Jean."

"You know what you're a really cool guy, come watch the soccer game tomorrow. If you don't have plans that is." He told me. I don't know what the heck is wrong with me but Jean has made me blush more in one day than I have in the past 2 years.

"Um, yeah. I will if I can get a ride. Thanks."

"Wait, do you have a ride back home?"

"No, I'll just walk home, its fine really."

"God, feel like an ass for keeping you past the bus times. Are your friend here to walk with you?"

"No, I can walk home alone its really okay Jean."

"Nope, uh-uh, no way, nicht, not after what happened when I was in the library. I'll drive you home, I'm not letting some football assholes try to beat you up again." Something about the way Jean said that made me blush, again for god's sakes! "Do you mind watching me practice or practicing with me? I can just take you home first if you'd like."

"Jean, you really don't need to do this if you don't want to."

"Of course I want to. Do you mind waiting?"

"No I don't mind." I really don't know why he's being so nice to me, he barely knows me. I've known that he's a nice guy from Calculus with him last year, but I didn't think he'd be this friendly to me.

"Alright, I need to change first and then I'll practice as fast as I can for you."

"Jean there is no need to rush yourself, especially for me."

"Armin, you are really the best. I can't believe we never talked last year." He said the last part to himself mainly.

We walked to the locker room and Jean pulled his duffel out from the shower area that no one ever uses. I sat down on the bench and waited as Jean pulled out his clothes, shin guards, socks, and cleats.

"Nice huh?" he said as he held up his cleats, which were in fact pretty nice. "I worked extra for these babies."

Without warning Jean took his shirt off, and I couldn't bring myself to look away. Jean was pretty ripped. Not only did he play soccer for the school, but he played it year round on some amazing travel team, alternated between swimming and track every year for the winter season, and played baseball in the spring. Suddenly I started to think of Jean wearing baseball pants. I wiped that from my mind as fast as possible. Jean still had his shirt off and I saw he had a tattoo on his shoulder. He started unbuckling the belt to his uniform and I looked away, I definitely didn't not need to think of that when I couldn't get the image of his bare chest and torso out of my mind. It was not the time to be thinking of Jean, who I obviously had a small crush on now, like that while he was standing 4 feet away from me, half naked might I add.

"You okay Armin?" he questioned me, I turned around to see him just pulling up his shorts, my cheeks got hot again, my face was probably as red as Eren's hair the on time Mikasa and I decided to bleach it and dye it while he was gaga from having his wisdom teeth taken out.

"Um yeah, it's just hot in here." I lied; no way was I telling him I was gay and currently enjoying the sight of him with no shirt on.

"Yeah, it does get kind of hot in here." Jean said absentmindedly while pulling his socks over his shin guards, still wearing no shirt may I add. I turned around again until he said he was ready. Once again, he had his shirt, a water bottle, and the keys to the field, still not wearing his shirt.

It's not like it was a bad view or anything, it was the exact opposite in fact, but I would rather not lose my reasonable explanation of it being hot in the locker room. Thank god he started to put it on as we were walking onto the field.

Jean ran a mile, in 5 minutes flat, did a few sprints and a couple other running exercises for agility. He practiced maneuvering around the field and set up penalty kicks. He probably would have lost track of time if he didn't look over at me.

"Sorry you had to stay and wait for me." He laughed as we walked off of the turf. He put the balls down and locked the turf up.

"Its fine, it's fun to watch you play," I realized how that sounded pretty weird, "I-I read several chapter in my book too, so." I tried to save myself. Jean just laughed a little and went into the locker room to get his stuff.

"Ready to go?" he asked pulling his car keys out of his duffel.

"Yeah, thanks again Jean."

"C'mon, if anyone should be thanking anyone it should be me thanking you. You're really saving my ass here. When I'm a pro foo-soccer player I'll have you to thank."

"I like how it's odd for you to say soccer instead of football." I said before I realized I had even opened my mouth. "Uh, sorry." I apologized while the tips of my ears got hot for the up-tenth time today.

"Haha, really? It bothers most people. Coach hates it, and I'm pretty sure it bugs Marco too." He said starting the car. Marco was Jean's best friend; he was one of the baseball captains with Jean, though Marco was better than Jean by a little. Marco was definitely the nicest guy I have ever met in my life, the baseball team even called him Freckled Jesus. "My dad is the reason I love the sport so much. We would always talk about it in German because my mom didn't really want to hear about it. It's been 5 years but I don't really want to break the habit you know?" Jean's tone was nostalgic as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Yeah, I get it." I really didn't understand why he was telling me this. Jean's dad had passed away 5 years ago from leukemia.

"Uh, what street do you live on?" Jean asked after clearing his throat, I could tell he was getting too emotional for his own liking.

"I live a couple houses down from Marco." I answered.

"Oh okay."

We talked about several different things before we reached my house. I told him thanks again and was about to get out of the car when he grabbed my hand. I knew I was getting red again.

"Armin, seriously, come to the game tomorrow night. I'll look for you."

"I'll try." I said before nodding frantically. I got out and closed the car door and walked to my front door. I knew I looked like a tomato when I turned around and waved goodbye before opening the door and walking in. I heard Jean put the car into drive and leave once I was inside.

"Hi Armin, how was your day?" My grandpa said from the kitchen.

"Okay." I replied walking into the kitchen.

"Just okay? What happened?" he asked me

"I have a crush Grandpa." I knew he was going to ask why that was such a bad thing, "On a straight boy."

"Oh, I see. Tell me who it is at least?"

"The guy who dropped me off, Jean Kirschstein, the soccer captain, the most popular kid in school."

"Oh, boy!"

"You sound like Holden Caulfield."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Armin blushes a lot

"Armin!" I heard Eren yell from up the street as I was walking to the bus stop.

"Hi Eren, where's Mikasa?" I greeted him when he caught up to me.

"She's running a pretty high fever so the old man is making her stay home." He answered, he seemed pretty jittery, I mean more so than usual.

"That's terrible. Are you suggesting she wanted to come to school?"

"Yeah, Mikasa's pretty weird about her grades, she as to have an A in everything. I guess the stereotypes are true." The Yeager's adopted Mikasa when she was 4 from a small, rundown village in Japan. "So, do I have to beat him up?" Eren questioned rather excitedly.

"Who are you talking about?" I had a feeling he was talking about Jean, but he also might have heard about the kid that Jean stopped from hurting me.

"Horseface, who else?" he questioned, probably looking for a reason to start a fight with him. "Was he a jerk? Did he make fun of you? Did he try to hurt you?" yep, he was definitely looking for a reason to fight, Eren has had pretty terrible anger issues his entire life.

"I don't know why you hate Jean so much."

"He's a rude jerk that's why."

"Eren, he is probably the second nicest person I know other than Marco. Are you sure it's not because he told Mikasa she was pretty earlier this year?" Eren made an embarrassed/angered expression and knew I hit the nail on the head. "He actually saved me from a group of bullies yesterday, for your information."

"What? Who tried to hurt you?" he said getting mad, I probably shouldn't have told him that but I got this weird urge to defend Jean.

"Honestly I don't even know who they were, but Jean told them to leave and they did."

"He just told him to leave? That's it?"

"Well no, he did use some profanities and he may have shoved them."

"Well maybe horseface isn't that bad but I still don't like him. He gave me a black eye you know." Eren proclaimed.

"Eren, he didn't give you that. You got it trying to hit him but he moved out of the way and you ran into a chair." I wasn't there to see it but Mikasa told me that it happened in metal shop and it was pretty painful to watch, Jean offered to take Eren to the nurse but Eren swatted his hand away and said he was fine.

"I was his fault though." He scoffed and I laughed at him.

We ended up walking to school in a comfortable silence. Until Eren tripped over a raised part of the sidewalk and wiped out completely and I laughed at him uncontrollably that is.

We were walking to the front door of the school when I saw Jean get out of his truck. He saw me and waved. I waved back blushing slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Eren.

"Armin do you have a crush on horseface?" he asked me with a weird look on his face. "You were super defensive about him this morning."

"N-no, Eren I don't know why you would think that." It was probably the worst lie that has ever left me lips and you bet your butt Eren saw through it. "Alright, fine. I like him, but not that much, so you can stop thinking whatever you are thinking."

"Hey, Armin! Wait up!" I heard Jean yell as he jogged up to the front door. Eren turned around and groaned.

"Hi Jean." I smiled at him and he smiled back before Eren spoke.

"What do you want Sarah?" he asked Jean, who glared at him and looked back to me.

"After school today just wait in the library for me and I'll be there after I tell the guys what to do, I don't want a repeat of yesterday, okay?" he said to me looking slightly angered by the thought of the 3 football players.

"Yeah, sure thing." I answered

"You're going to come tonight, right?" he asked about the soccer game, but Eren didn't know that. If Jean made me blush anymore today I might as well just tell him that I like him because I think that it's pretty obvious.

Eren looked nauseous.

"Y-yeah, I will."

"Alright, I'll see you after school. Bye!" He said then went in the direction of his homeroom.

"Um, Armin, what was he talking about tonight?" Eren looked like he was going to vomit and then pass out, serves him right for being a pervert.

"That's not what he meant, stop thinking like that. He asked me to come to his game tonight." I said as Eren's overactive dirty mind slowed and he looked healthy again.

"Are you really going to go?" Eren asked in disbelief.

"Yes, tonight's Alumni night so might see my friend Bertholdt there anyway."

"Well… I'm going too." I gave Eren a skeptical look. Eren didn't like sports, at all. He doesn't play them, he doesn't watch them, and he doesn't enjoy them. "What? I don't want you to be alone."

If I knew Eren, which I did, he was probably going to see if he could find any cute guys.

We walked into homeroom and sat down. "Alright. It's at 7, just stop at my house on your way there."

* * *

I walked to the library after 8th period and sat at the same table as we did yesterday. I pulled out my book and read until Jean got there.

"Guess what." Jean said startling me having just gotten there. "I got an 80 on my History quiz."

"Good job Jean! Do you have any homework or class work that you need to do?"

"No, I finished my Catcher in the Rye packet yesterday when I got home and it's due tomorrow and we just took notes in History. But I should probably review that packet for the test."

"Do you want help?" I asked putting my book down.

"For the definitions, that would be great." He said loosening his tie and handing me his packet.

"'Phony'?"

"Pretentious or hypocritical."

"'That killed me'?"

"I found that hilarious."

"'Flit'?"

"Homosexual."

"'Snowing'?"

"Sweet-talking."

"'Crumby'?"

"Disappointing or inadequate."

"'Chew the fat'?"

"Uh, small talk?" I nodded

"'Shoot the bull'?"

"Bullshitting in a conversation."

"Jean, something you could say on the test." He laughed and then gave me a sufficient answer. "'I got a bang out of that'?"

"I found that hilarious."

"'G-give her th-the time'?" Jean didn't say anything, he just waggled his eyebrows and I left it at that.

"Half of that vocab isn't even outdated anyway, I always say 'that killed me', 'crumby', and 'phony'." He said leaning back in his chair. "Well that's it for the day."

"Shouldn't you go to practice?"

"Nah, I told them to run a mile and do their agility exercises. I did all of that yesterday, since it's a night game we practice right before the game starts." He yawned, "I'd much rather spend time with you though."

I pulled my book up higher so he couldn't see my face and replied with an 'oh'. I swear, he knows I like him and is trying to embarrass me. I decided to switch the topic by asking about the game. I could tell he was excited for it so we wouldn't drift back to the previous topic.

"Stohess is our rival and the team that doesn't qualify will be laughed at by the other so we have to win." Whenever Jean spoke about soccer, you could see the passion in his eyes, I really enjoyed that. "I know that they are expecting us to play the same way we did last year with the same setup so I convinced Coach that we should switch out positions for this game, we've been practicing it for the last 30 minutes of practice for the past week because this game is one of our most important since this is our last qualification round for knock outs and we need to win because we lost our last game."

I had heard that Jean hurt his leg somewhere in the last game and had to come out. Jean was able to talk about soccer for hours I swear. I liked to watch the tournaments they had on TV like the world cup and the setup for the State championships was generally the same.

"Instead of just playing as a striker or a winger tonight, I'm going to play false 9 or false 10, it really depends on Coach and how the other team is practicing though. That way Stohess won't know what hit they're snobby rich faces. Those asses like to play dirty sometimes." I honestly couldn't wait to watch him play tonight, he seemed so excited. I honestly had no clue what a false 9 or 10 was but he looked cute talking about it.

"Didn't you break the 100 goal mark last year?" I asked him, the team was undefeated last year because Levi and Jean had this weird connection where they just knew what the other was thinking, Connie told me that it wasn't even stuff they went over in practice and it was amazing to be on the same team as them because they were like the 'Bale-Ronaldo or Neymar- Messi duos in La Liga', I don't really know who those players are but Jean had said something about a Gareth Bale a minute ago, anyway Connie said they were a duo made in soccer heaven.

"Yeah, the school record was set be Coach when he was a senior with 132 and I'm only 2 away from it. He told me that if I broke it today then he would exempt my lowest test grade."

"Wow. You have me excited for the game with all of this. It sucks that Mr. Smith isn't your history teacher." Jean laughed.

"I love Mrs. Bodt and she's a great teacher but history is just so damn hard." He said messing with his tie again. He noticed that I was watching him fiddle with it and then spoke, "Casual Friday is my favorite day; I hate these stupid uniforms."

"I can tell." I laughed and Jean smiled at me.

"Oh yeah, if we win tonight then we'll have to leave early for our next game, can I have your phone number so we can figure out when to that session up."

"Uh- yeah, I-I'll write it down." I was just expecting him to skip the sessions honestly, why would he want to spend more time with me than necessary? He took the paper from me when I was done and put it in his wallet.

"Cool, I'll text you. I think we should probably go home now." He grabbed his things and stood up, I did the same and we walked outside together. I stopped and leaned against the railing to wait for the bus then Jean stopped walking. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm going to wait for the bus."

"No, come on I'll take you home."

"Jean, that's just going out of your way."

"I don't mind, really, it's fine."

He talked about the other team and their good players and how they were most like likely going to one man mark him. I liked that Jean knew he was the best player on the team but he didn't have an ego because of it. He apologized a couple times for continuing to talk about soccer but I told him that it was fine and I actually liked to listen to him talk about it. If Eren saw me acting as head over heels as I was right now he would probably vomit and say 'seriously Armin, Horseface?' and then make a comment about why he didn't like Jean.

My grandpa was out on the porch when he pulled up to my house. Grandpa waved and walked up to the truck as I was getting out.

"So you're Jean?" he asked

"In the flesh, sir." Jean answered

"Well as you could probably tell I'm Armin's grandpa. Nice to meet you."

"You too, Mr. Arlert."

"Armin tells me you're quite the soccer player." My face went red, does my grandpa not know his boundaries?

"Yes sir, I have our final playoff game tonight. I hope you'll let Armin go?"

"Of course I will! Would you like a drink Jean?" What is he doing! He's trying to kill me!

"I would say yes but I need to get home to my mom so she doesn't get worried, I left my phone on the counter this morning."

"That's fine boy, you're welcome anytime." I've decided that Grandpa is in fact trying to kill me and tell Jean that I like him at the same time.

"Thanks Mr. Arlert, I should get going now. I better see you at the game tonight Armin! I'll look for you." He laughed. I nodded and said goodbye with Grandpa as Jean left.

"Grandpa!" I yelled once Jean was down the street, "Are you trying to embarrass me to death!"

"No I'm not Armin. You're doing that yourself by blushing every time he looks at you." Grandpa laughed, "I like him."

"Grandpa, I told you already, he's straight."

"I'll tell you one thing and one thing only Armin, that boy has a crush on you too, whether he knows it or not, that much is obvious." Once again I was blushing because of Jean Kirschstein.

I blush too much, for my own good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments are appreciated :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jean's big game

I was pacing around my room and lying on my bed for about 3 hours. Should I change? No, he's not going to notice stupid he's playing. Should I even go? You have to stupid, Eren's going and Grandpa would make you anyway.

"What am I so nervous for, it's not like he's going to notice that I'm there." I said to myself sitting on the edge of my bed. "Oh yeah, I have a crush on him."

I didn't know that it was possible for me to act this stupid but then again I've never had an actual crush on anyone before, Jean is my first. A straight, popular guy, of all things! I don't even think I would be able to tell him that I'm gay anyway. Telling Eren was probably the scariest thing ever, and it was much unexpected that I was met with a 'that's cool so am I'.

I laid back and closed my eyes.

"Armin, Armin? Armin!" I woke up to Eren screaming my name.

"Wha-what time is it? When did you get here?" I said sitting up stiffly, I really did not like being woken up.

"It's like 7:34 or something, I just got here like a minute ago."

"Eren! The game started 30 minutes ago!" I was kind of mad that I wasn't being able to watch Jean play the whole game, well I mean, he did want me too. "Gosh, we better leave now so we can get there before half time is over." I glared daggers at Eren who gave me a dumb look in return.

* * *

 

Thankfully we got there before half time was over with about a minute to spare.

"Wow." Eren said staring wide-eyed at the turf, I could only guess what he meant by that but I was about to figure out in about 4 seconds. "I need to come to more soccer games, I mean dang. I figured he was talking about the players.

When I looked back from Eren to the field I saw Jean looking around the bleachers. He can't seriously be looking for me can he? I repressed the blush that was about to come from that thought, but when Jean saw me and smiled and waved, it came in twice as worse at it would have been before.

I waved back to him as the players took their positions on the field. The scoreboard said that the game was 0 home, 1 away. Stohess started with the ball and passed it back to their left inner defensemen who passed it to the outer left defensemen. He attempted to pass it to an offensive player on our side of the field, but Connie had challenged said player and won the ball. He passed it to the right side of the field to Thomas who then passed it up towards the middle to Franz. Franz was about 6 feet across from Jean, whom he passed to. Jean passed it back to Franz after getting closer to the goal and once Jean was about 3 yards from the box Franz passed it back to him. Jean ran up with the ball until he was 3 feet behind and to the left of the penalty spot and took a shot right as a defender tried to get the ball from him.

Goal #131 for Jean, he only had 2 more to go before he broke the record. Trost Titans 1, Stohess 1.

After about 3 minutes of Stohess passing the ball around their defense, they passed it up to one of their mids who passed to a winger that made a breakaway and nearly scored. Nac punted the ball up to Daz, a mid, who then passed to Jean, who was back pretty deep for his position. I guess he was playing one of those 'false' positions he was talking about earlier. When a defender had moved to, who had moved up to challenge Jean created a hole in Stohess' defense, he passed it back to Daz who had made his way to the area the defender had left open. Jean ran into the box as Daz passed it to Samuel, the winger. Sam kicked the ball overhead to Jean but the goalie for Stohess had run up and jumped to catch it before Jean could receive it, elbowing Jean in the forehead pretty hard in to process. The ref had blown the whistle and Mr. Smith and the trainer, Mr. Ness, came onto the field.

The crowd went silent, even Sasha. Everyone was able to see that blood when Jean removed his hand from his head. I looked to Eren and even he looked concerned, Mr. Smith looked like he was going to have a heart attack. We saw Jean nod 'yes' to Mr. Ness and he poured some water on the injury and wiped the blood off. Jean stood and the entire team looked relieved. The referee made a hand signal and the Stohess team looked nervous. I realized it was a penalty kick when the goalie put the ball on the hash mark.

The ref started talking to Jean, presumably about whether he could continue to play or not, and then walked to the side of the box. Jean walked over to the box and stopped about 5 yards directly behind the ball, he was taking the shot. It was still silent, the ref blew his whistle and Jean made a large shuffling movement to the right 3 times, he ran to the ball and kicked it with his left foot. The crowd went insane.

132, one more to go.

At about the 20 minute mark of the half, Stohess had scored another goal.

The last 30 seconds of the game was crazy. Nac had caught another goal attempt from Stohess. Jeans playing had been obviously affected by the blow to the head he took. 23 seconds, 22 seconds, 21 seconds, Nac punted the ball to Jean, who was the highest player up at the moment. He had received the ball with his chest. Stohess was playing for the tie, so they had both wingers marked by at least 2 players. There was not enough time left to pass back and be able to score so Jean took the ball up the field himself. Three of Stohess' defenders went to challenge him; with some fancy move Jean cleared the first boy.

10 seconds, 9 seconds, everyone was on the edge of the bleachers, even Eren.

One of the defenders picked Jean's right ankle in an attempt to trip him and the other was ready to take the ball once he fell, he faltered but kept his balance and kept moving.

8 seconds, 7 seconds, 6 seconds, the last defender made an attempt to slide and kick the ball away from Jean's reach. 5 seconds, 4 seconds, right as his foot was about to touch the ball, Jean squeezed the ball between his feet/ankles and jumped over the defenders legs. The goalie was completely unprepared as Jean moved up further, no more defensemen in his way.

3 seconds, 2 seconds, Jean took the shot. 1. 132.

The crowd was in absolute stand still, shock washed over everyone. The buzzer rang signaling the end of the game.

133.

Everyone stood and went completely crazy. I was screaming, Eren was screaming, Sasha was flailing all over the place and screaming, for god's sakes even Annie Leonhardt was screaming. The entire Stohess team was in shock with their jaws hanging. Jean was taking his victory run, he jumped in the air, screaming and jabbing his chest with his index finger and the Entire team ran and dog piled on top of him.

Mr. Smith grabbed Mr. Ness by the shoulders and screamed.

The energy was like nothing I had ever experienced before. The team was still screaming and removing themselves from each other when the crowd ran on to the field. I saw Jean before the nearly the entire school, save for Annie, Eren, Marco, Krista, and myself dog piled on him.

I could've sworn he looked directly at me and winked.

Eren and I decided to start walking back home before everyone was squeezing out of the exit all at once.

"Holy shit." Eren said out of nowhere when we were about half way home.

"What?"

"Well, I knew Sarah was good and that he was the best on the team, but I didn't know he was that good. That was absolutely fucking insane!" he yelled

"Is he good enough for you to stop calling him Sarah?" I asked, really, I think Jean was fine with horseface, but he was almost at the end of the straw with Sarah.

"Yeah, I guess he is." Eren sighed, we got to my house and said our goodbyes. Once I made it to my door I heard Eren yell, "Oh, by the way I saw that wink too."

I think my face is on fire.

* * *

 

I waited in the library for Jean when I saw a book about the ocean that looked really cool, so I took it to the librarian to check it out.

"Armin!" I hear a yell from Jean as he swung the doors open. I hadn't seen him since before the giant school dog pile.

"Jean, what are you-" I stopped short on account of papers being shoved in my face. "My satanic English teacher gave us the test today instead of Monday, and I aced it! One- Freakin'- Hundred!" he was yelling excitedly, I was surprised that the librarian wasn't hushing him. "And Coach told me in Physics that a professional, not college, but professional scout contacted him about me! A professional scout! Oh my god this is the best day of my life! Ugh, I just!" Jean then grabbed me by the sides of my face and kissed my forehead. "This was all you Armin! You are so amazing! Look, I don't have any-"

Whatever he continued to say went completely un-heard by me. He. Just. Kissed. Me. He just kissed me. He just kissed me! Oh my god, he just kissed me.

I was 150% sure that I was bright red. My stomach was eating itself. I saw him walk away after he was done talking, to excited about his day to notice. This 'small crush' that I had on him had just evolved into a massive one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> armin blushes a lot

I took the bus home with Eren who had missed the first bus. I don't think it necessary to explain what the only thing I could think about was. I don't know how I could go from barely knowing Jean to having such a huge crush on him in only a matter of days. I saw him walking to his car with Marco as the bus started to leave.

"Armin what's up with you?" Eren asked. I just looked at him and looked at my book. "What? Did horseface kiss you or something?" my blush had never really left my face and it had just gotten worse, I tried to look back out the window and mutter a 'no'. Really, all of this blushing is just absurd.

Eren's face dropped and he stopped laughing.

"He didn't kiss you did he?" he said with a faltering grin.

"N-not exactly." I answered quietly

"What?! What does 'not exactly' mean?!"

"It was on my f-orehead. I-I don't even think he even n-noticed th-that he d-did it." I stuttered the truth to him, he did it so fast, he is a touchy-feely person (which in my case was not good for my health), and he was very excited about the scout, anyone really could have done that. "He was just really excited."

"Excited about what?! Armin is he coming onto you? I swear to god if he is I'll beat the shit out of him. That asshole is coming onto you isn't he? I'll kill him, I swear."

"Eren, what the heck, he-he is not coming onto me. Of course he isn't, he's the most popular guy in school, why would he." It was obviously the honest to god truth; Jean could probably have anyone in this school if he wanted to.

"Well if he ever-"

"He would never. Discussion over." I felt like there as a small pit in my stomach and a stinging at the corners of my eyes after that.

"Armin, did Dean piss in your cheerios again? Dang." My cat had urinated in my cereal when he was a kitten and Eren was there watching when it happened. Well, if you consider laughing with tears running down our face while your eyes are squeezed shut 'watching'.

"Eren shut up." The bus had stopped at our stop and we were walking home.

"What was horse face so excited about in the first place that made him kiss you?"

"There is a scout looking at him."

"Well I'm not a soccer expert or anything, but after that I wouldn't think that it was a shock that a scout was looking at him."

"It's a professional scout."

"Okay, I see now. But that scout isn't the only one with his eyes on him."

"What?"

"I know someone that likes Jean, a lot. I don't know what's wrong with them."

"Wha-what? Who?"

"It's pretty obvious," he sighed, who the heck else liked Jean, who am I kidding half the school does. "You do."

"E-Eren, no I don't." if you assume my cheeks are red for the hundredth time then you would be correct, in fact anytime you assume I'm blushing, I probably am.

"Haha, well I was just checking. Now I know you do."

Thank god it's Friday, I would not have been able to talk to Jean directly tomorrow.

"Bye Armin, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye Eren."

I went into my room and laid on my bed. Dean came up and jumped on my stomach after a while.

"Hi Dean." He meowed back at me and sat down. Dean would definitely claw me if I tried to move right after he settled down so I just closed my eyes.

_Buzz. Buzz._

I woke up to the notifications on my phone. Dean was gone so I sat up and looked at my phone.

7:02 pm, 1 new message from Unknown.

I opened up the message.

**Hey Armin, it's Jean. Sorry about today, I wanted to tell Marco and then we went to get pizza after. We can reschedule today sometime this weekend right?**

I really didn't think Jean would be texting me to reschedule, like at all. My weekends are normally impromptu plans with Eren and Mikasa.

 _Hi. I don't think missing today really matters all that much, you're getting the hang of everything pretty quickly missing one time won't matter._  Send.

I felt weirdly self conscious after sending that text was it too formal? Did I sound rude? Should I have worded it differently?

 **Are you sure?**  He responded about 5 minutes later

_Yeah it's fine, you probably have plans for this weekend anyway._

**I don't have any plans this weekend actually haha, we could still hang out this weekend if you want to**

What. I blinked at the message couple times. I really didn't know what to say to him.

 _If you want to we can._ I answered back, was I supposed to feel this anxious texting someone?

 **Are you doing anything on Saturday?** I have never felt this weird texting Eren or Mikasa before, I felt this weird feeling in my stomach and my palms were sweating.

 _I don't think I am_ I know I'm not doing anything, why on Earth did I lie?

**Well if you want to see a movie or anything we can**

I think I'm getting sick, my face felt hot, my palms were sweaty, and my stomach felt weird.

_Yeah, I'd just have to ask my grandpa._

**Get back to me soon haha.**

It was done, it was over. The strange feeling in my stomach left and I put the phone down and laid back. I let out a breath I don't remember holding in the first place.

"Talking to your boy friend Armin?" Grandpa said from the door.

"He-He's not my boyfriend!"

"Hahaha, whatever you say Armin." He said leaving my door frame before I could say anything.

_Buzz. Buzz._

I let out an 'eep' as my phone caught me off guard. Eren was normally asleep extremely early so I wasn't expecting a text from him.

 **So wyd?** Jean, again, the same nervous feeling took over again.

_Nothing, I just finished my homework actually._

_I'm not doing anything on Saturday_

**Cool, ill just pick you up at ur house then, is 1 good?**

_Yeah thats good. what are we doing by the way?_

**I figured we would cross that bridge when we came to it.**

_okay, see you tmmr_

**yeah, goodnight armin**

_goodnight jean_

I let out a shaky breath. Why was talking to him so nerve racking.

"Grandpa?" I yelled, he was sometimes asleep at this time.

"Yes?"

"I'm leaving at 1 tomorrow."

"Okay, be back by 10:30 eh? Don't have too much fun on your date."

"Grandpa! It's not a date."

"Keep telling yourself that boy."

* * *

I was re-reading Cather in the Rye, it was about 1 AM. I couldn't sleep and I knew why. I was nervous, even though I shouldn't have been.

It was ridiculous really. I never have trouble sleeping, ever. I really don't

Here I was obsessing over tomorrow because I like Jean and I want him to like me too at 1 AM, while Jean was completely-I hope-oblivious to the fact I liked him and was more likely than not fast asleep probably dreaming about playing in the World Cup.

I was wondering what to wear like a teenage girl, and practicing lines in a mirror like a lovesick boy from a romance novel.

I couldn't help it. I really couldn't.

I knew the weird feeling in my stomach wasn't from hunger but I went to the kitchen to eat anyway.

I grabbed an apple and a water then went into my room.

I threw the apple core in the trash when i was finished with it and put the water on the night stand.

I pushed myself from the slouching position on my headboard and laid down after i finished Chapter 19.

I identified with Holden right now, I felt like I was having a mental breakdown.

Why did I ever have to get a dumb crush on Jean anyway.

I turned my attentions to the book on the ocean that I had checked out from the school's library. I had never been to the Ocean and I really would like too. Trost was just outside of Atlantic City, NJ.

My Grandpa was always too busy to take me and it would be too hard for him to walk down in the sand.

My parents were completely out of the picture too.

I had always imagined going with Eren and Mikasa if all of us saved for the gas money and swimwear too, I guess.

Thanking about the ocean had calmed me down quite a lot, so i played ocean sounds on YouTube and laid down. I really wondered what we were going to do tomorrow. To be completely honest with you, I don't get out that often. I really don't.

I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep, God knows what I would be doing tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeeeEEEE


End file.
